Tyrone, PA- We all know that driving is dangerous and can have serious and fatal consequences, but there are times when drunk drivers react to their arrest in amusing and humorous ways.
Such is the case of a Tyrone, Pennsylvania man who conjured up some of his idols, Humphrey Bogart and Frank Sinatra, when he was questioned by police last week for alleged drunk driving. The highly intoxicated man, who was identified as 78 year-old Herbert Gross, was involved in a minor fender bender around 10 p.m. on June 18th, in the parking lot of Sylvan Acres. According to the Altoona Mirror, witness told police that they say Gross’ pickup truck strike another vehicle while he was attempting to park.
Tyrone police asked the octogenarian to get out of his pickup truck, and tried to question him about the minor accident. Upon exiting his truck Gross pointed to one of the arresting officers and said, “Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world,” quoting Bogart from the iconic classic film “Casablanca.”
Police noted that Gross seemed unsteady and when he tried to walk from the front of the truck to the back he fell, but the officers were able to catch him. Officers continued to question Gross about the accident, but the only responses he offered were quotes from Bogart films and Sinatra songs, the Altoona Mirror reported.
Once Gross figured out that he was in hot water he began to croon Frank Sinatra’s classic “My Way,” telling officers, “And now the end is near, and so I face the final curtain.”
The police reported noted that Gross was so intoxicated that police decided it would be unsafe to submit him to field sobriety tests. He was taken into custody and taken to the hospital where he refused to submit to a blood test.
Gross was charged with driving while intoxicated, and was release. His court date is set for August 6 and, luckily, he has no previous DUI convictions.
This is certainly one of the more unusual DUI arrests we have encountered here at DUI Lawyers Now, but not the most unusual; that privilege goes to a Georgia man who fled the scene of DUI accident earlier this year.
In that strange incident, a man and his female passenger crashed into a ditch on Moon Road in Loganville—the irony of that street name will be apparent shortly. The man ran from the scene and left his hurt and bloody female passenger lying in a church parking lot.
When police caught with the man at a nearby house, they asked him how he got there. The man replied that aliens abducted him from the crash site and transported him to the house.
We understand that drunk driving isn’t funny; it can lead to traffic accidents that harm or kill others. It also creates numerous legal headaches for the offender, but sometimes it’s hard not to laugh at the antics of drunken people.
